Another Liberal tax grab?

Social media allows citizens to share comments, questions and concerns with elected officials in real time that can quickly demonstrate a trend.

As an example, early this week, my social media feed, along with in-person meetings, was filled with outrage over news that if you are an employee who receives a staff discount, that discount would now be considered a taxable benefit by the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA).

Public reaction to this change in interpretation from the CRA has been overwhelming angry and strongly opposed.

For small business owners, the thought of attempting to administer the records of documenting staff discounts was another serious concern as was a potential reduction in wages for staff that might use a staff discount.

Fortunately, there may be some positive news on this matter.

National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier has indicated that this change on interpretation of the tax code is not one the minister authorized. It has been further reported that the minister has instructed the CRA to remove this interpretation from the CRA website.

In Ottawa circles, this is often referred to as “the minister throwing the department under the bus."

From my perspective, it seems clear the minister recognized the outrage of this decision and has acted quickly to attempt to mitigate this change to the tax code.

Currently, this interpretation of the tax code is said to be officially under review while CRA consults with stakeholders.

Unfortunately, this does not necessarily mean that the CRA may not again attempt to implement a similar tax grab targeted against workers who receive a staff discount.

Given that many workers are in occupations that may not involve a staff discount, I would like to hear your views on this subject.

Would you support a staff discount being considered a taxable benefit or do you prefer the status quo where discounts are left alone by the CRA?

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Before entering public life, Dan was the owner of Kick City Martial Arts, responsible for training hundreds of men, women and youth to bring out their best.

MP Dan’s parliamentary record includes being recognized by the Ottawa Citizen in 2015 as one of five members of Parliament with a 100 per cent voting attendance record.

Locally in British Columbia, MP Dan Albas has been consistently one of the lowest spending members of Parliament, on office and administration related costs, despite operating two offices to better serve local constituent.

MP Dan Albas is consistently recognized as one of Canada’s top 10 most active members of Parliament on Twitter (@danalbas) and also continues to write a weekly column published in many local newspapers and on this website.

In October 2015, MP Dan Albas was re-elected to Parliament representing the new riding of Central Okanagan Similkameen Nicola. Dan is currently the shadow minister for small business and sits on the Standing Committee on Finance.

MP Dan welcomes comments, questions and concerns from citizens and is often available to speak to groups and organizations on matters of federal concern.